Animalistic
by fazzems
Summary: The gang has a run-in with Cronus that changes them in more ways than one. J/T and A/A
1. Prologue

**Does anyone even still do COTT fanfiction? I don't know, but I wrote this a long time ago and I have about 5 more chapters ready to give out. Review if you want more :)**

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_Prologue:_

Circe sighed heavily, staring outside her window at the animals who circled aimlessly around her water mansion she had placed to guard her. In the drought they were in, her island was dying; not even Demeter could possibly fix this mess. She could tell it was tainted with Witchcraft from another goddess, but even she did not know of the ancient Greek words that would free her island from the icy grip of death. The trees were turning a dull brown, the grass had patches of yellow in it, and the animals seemed to walk slower as if it took a concentrated effort to not just drop to the ground in exhaustion and mourn.

The animals had been there for thousands of years and yet they never slowed their walk as it was what she had ordered them under her spell… until this day.

Usually, there was always something to do, something new to try, but there was a hollow spot where her heart was supposed to be. She couldn't be bothered to turn the men who stumbled onto her island into pigs like usual; the cruel spot in her mind was blotted out by the worry of her island.

She jumped, her eyes flashed with her old anger and cruelty as a voice spoke behind her, "Hello, Circe."

"Who let you in!?" Circe demanded through clenched teeth, already sorting through her mind what kind of animal he would be transformed into; maybe something small and dingy, or huge and clumsy… maybe just another pig would do.

"I'd lower my arms if I were you…" the man asked, stroking his goatee as any mad-man would, "Your island is at stake."

Circe sobered up and her eyes saddened for a moment before she turned to face the man in the black suit.

"What is it you want, Cronus?" she snapped sourly, "Not even you can help my island now…"

"No, I assure you; I most definitely can," Cronus smirked and casually pulled out his scythe, then rubbed some dirt off of the tip innocently, "If there's something in it for me, of course!"

Circe thought for a second; images of her island dying flashes across her mind. She sighed, knowing his offer was inevitable and had to be done; she would do anything to save her beloved island.

"What do you want?" she asked softly, her eyes pained as if she hated to do this.

"Just a potion!" Cronus grinned lightly, "Or, better yet, a poison…"

Circe eyed him suspiciously, "Is that all? Is that _all you want_?"

Cronus nodded then looked at her in mock-surprise and acted offended, "Of course, Dear Circe, what are you _accusing_ me of? Why, would you like me to take more?"

Circe kept a straight face, "What kind of poison."

"Oh, you know, I'll take the special!" Cronus smirked, "Add the poison onto my Scythe. I want whoever I slash to go through the metamorphic change…"

"Simple!" Circe declared, plucking a vial from a nearby table and snapping her fingers.

As an immediate reaction, a golden liquid filled the vial. She snatched Cronus's Scythe out of his hand and whispered a few words of Greek and poured the thick liquid all over the weapon.

"There!" she said somewhat smugly, handing the Scythe to the God of Time.

Cronus smirked, "Of course, your island will begin to heal as soon as I leave."

Cronus opened his black void-like portal and took a stride through, barely suppressing his maniacle laughter.

The second he was gone, Circe ran back to the window, her smile so big that a Chesire Cat would be in envy.

Four two days Circe sat there.

Not until she hit the 48 hour mark did her smile waver and did her hopes drop; she had obviously been fooled.

Her island wasn't better, and, if anything, it seemed worse.

Her small grin dropped into a grimace, forcing her eyes to narrow and lightning to flash in the sky.

Rage coursed through her body, her eyes glowed red and she swore her revenge on Cronus, sealing fate.


	2. And so it Begins

**I'm so happy people reviewed, thank you so much for the feedback :) I'm still running on the old chapters I wrote a while ago so excuse me for my clich****é**s :P Keep reviewing if you want more, people! :D

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**_Chapter 1: And so it Begins_**

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_The front door of the Brownstone slammed shut as a begrudging Neil stormed through, his usually-perfect blonde hair sticking up in several different directions, knotted in two others with water dripping off of it._

_As the door reopened, laughter echoed throughout the dorm, earning a well-deserved glare from Neil._

_"It's not funny!" he shouted, "It's not funny when you play possum! Especially when the possum falls into the pool!"_

_ "Okay, first of all!" Herry chuckled, "Yeah, that was pretty hilarious. Second of all… possum?"_

_ "Bait," Odie interjected._

_ Herry cracked up once more, slapping Neil on the back, "Good performance, buddy. Poor giant though, your scream when you hit the water was so high pitched you must've burst his eardrums! He ran crying home to Mommy Cronus!"_

_ "He won't be coming back any time soon," Archie pointed out through muffled laughter._

_ "Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Neil sighed melodramatically, "But where's my mirror?"_

_ And with that, Neil walked out of the room in search of his most treasured possession._

_ "Besides that, good job guys," Jay grinned before looking up at the clock, "It's only 8:00 right now, how 'bout we all-"_

_ Jay froze as a wave of nausea hit him and clutched at his head. He brought his hand back and stared at the dried blood left on his hands from where he had been hit, an orange hue instead of the usual dark crimson. _

"_Jay?" Theresa asked, resting her hand on his shoulder before freezing up as a headache engulfed her as well._

_ She backed up slowly, looking cautiously at Jay._

_ Then, at that moment, another wave of nausea hit the heroes, even Neil who stood in his room, foraging through masses of clothes for his mirror._

_ "How about we just hit the hay?" Atlanta groaned, "I have a mega-migraine."_

_ "I'm with ya," Herry muttered, turning away and dizzily making his way up the staircase to his room._

_ "Uh-huh," Odie and Atlanta nodded simultaneously._

_ Snapping from his reverie, Jay turned to look at Theresa, his eyes slightly glazed over, "What was that about, Theresa?"_

_ Giving him to same look back, Theresa shook her head slowly, as if it hurt just to do so, "I… don't know. Ugh, but I think I'm going to pass out!"_

_ Theresa blinked, her eyes hooded for a second, before fluttering shut as she doubled over onto the ground._

_ "Theresa!" Jay murmured, his voice slurred, before keeling over himself._

"Agnon, this is great, it's working _perfectly_!" Cronus mused loudly, staring into his scrying pool, maniacal laughter bubbling up into his throat.

Agnon grunted and leaned over in time to watch Neil drop his golden mirror onto the floor and collapse.

His face scrunched up in confusion, completely oblivious to why this was happening.

Noticing the giant's confusion, Cronus pulled his scythe from mid air and let it glint from the reflection of the scrying pool, "This Scythe is poisoned by Circe herself, Agnon... I cut through the skin of each of the god's little heroes and the infection now runs through each of their veins now. Now, Agnon, the results will show within a week and they'll be completely transformed. The prophecy said seven mortal, _human_ heroes will be my downfall… oh, yes, just you watch, Agnon!"

Cronus flashed a wicked grin and swept his scythe over the image of the heroes, turning to Agnon and saying, "The prophecy is a false…"

* * *

As light streamed through the window, Theresa mumbled in her sleep, a habit she'd had since she was little, and pulled her blanket higher up over her shoulder and snuggled deeper into it.

She groaned again as her incredibly heavy blanket shifted.

Wait…

She moved to stand up, but froze as her blanket groaned in protest. She whipped around to stare straight into the face of her blanket: Jay. Her face flushed and put her hands on his chest to shove him away, screeching loudly in surprise.

At the sound, his eyes snapped open too, looking straight into her eyes, before he blushed awkwardly and rolled off of her.

"Sorry," Jay held up his hands, blushing several different shades of red.

"Yeah, no problem," she muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Breaking the awkward silence, Jay grabbed both of her shoulders and made her look at him, raising his hand to point at her eyes, "What happened to your eyes, Theresa?"

Looking startled, the red head pulled away from him and crossed her arms defiantly, "Nothing! Why?"

Her eyes had changed from the bright emerald green Jay had come to know to a dull blue; the iris in her eyes had stretched so far there was no visible white, and her pupils were narrowly slit.

"Your eyes…" Jay said hesitantly, "They're, uh, blue now…"

"Um, well they sometimes change in the light, I guess," Theresa raised an eyebrow at him quizzically before snorting loudly, "Hey, whoa! Ugh, your breath stinks!"

Like any normal man would do, he stuck his hand in front of his face, blew into it, and sniffed the air before pulling a grossed out face.

"Ugh, yeah, you're right!" Jay moaned.

"Jay, when was the last time you brushed your teeth!?" Theresa yelled suddenly, reaching up and pulling back his lower lip to examine his gums.

"What are you, my dentist?" Jay snapped, slapping her hand away.

"No, it's just… you know what, just look in a mirror!"

Theresa grabbed his wrist and dragged him in to the bathroom, pointing at the mirror, "See? Look at your – OH MY GOD!"

Theresa promptly ignored Jay and leaned over the sink to stare at her eyes, "What the heck happened to my eye!?"

"See?" Jay rolled his eyes, before jumping at the sight of his own teeth.

Getting nice and close to the mirror, Jay flashed his _fangs_ at the mirror, pulling his lips back farther with his fingertips to stare at his blackened gums.

He exchanged a worried look with Theresa.

"I think there's something wrong with us."

...

Atlanta punched her pillow, fluffing it up before letting her head sink into it, lazily attempting to itch the back of her calf with her foot.

"Owwwwwwwww…"

Atlanta feebly opened her eyes to stare back at the back of her leg which sported a fresh, thin scratch stretching from her calf to the back of her knee.

"What the?" Atlanta grumbled, leaning her back up against her headboard and gently running her fingertips across the long scratch.

She raised her finger to eye level, staring at the blood, wondering what had just caused the wound. She scratched her head in confusion before yelping in pain, feeling blood surge to the surface of her skin once again.

Looking at her hands again, she squealed in surprise as she saw her fingernails slowly grow upwards into a point, before growing thicker and curving over like into a sharp V of claws.

"Holy-" she yelped, looking down at her feet to see claws protruding through her socks, covered with blood.

She had raked her claws across her skin, she noticed, and the blood was seeping into the sheets. Ugh, more laundry.

"Archie!?" she called hesitantly, hoping for the purple-haired teen to burst through her door at the sound of his name.

Sighing to herself, she realized Archie probably couldn't hear her tiny cry, so she regretfully pulled the covers off of herself, shivering as she stepped out of bed. Guiding herself with her hands through the dark, she pulled open her blinds, letting bright rays of sun shine through, forcing her to shield her eyes with her hand.

Finally, she padded out the door and crossed the hall in a few strides until she stood outside his door.

She knocked three times and slowly opened the door, peeking her head around the corner.

"Archie?" she called out through the dark, not seeing his sleeping form on the bed. In fact, the bed was made too, like he hadn't slept in it at all, "Archie!"

She stepped in and walked to the side of the bed, almost tripping over the unconscious bundle that was Archie.

"Arch?" she repeated, leaning down to shake his shoulders gently.

She rolled her eyes and prodded him with her finger, grimacing as one of her claws pierced the skin on his forearm.

"Whoops," she grinned sheepishly.

When she got no reply, she started to worry; Archie _did_ kind of look dead right then, but she knew that whenever Archie was asleep he looked limp and just really _not_ alive.

She looked him over again and sighed in relief at the slight rise and fall of his chest, then stood and raised her foot to kick him in the side.

She stopped her foot in its path as she realized something was missing from Archie.

Drawing a sharp intake of breath, Atlanta bent down again and felt Archie's head where his ears were supposed to be and held her breath as she only felt the smooth surface of his skin.

His ears were gone.

"Well, that's nasty."

She was tempted to punch him awake because this was getting ridiculous now, but refrained and instead, as calmly as she could, let her fingers trace his hairline until she reached the top of his head. Her fingers ran over a soft furry thing that she knew wasn't his hair (mainly because it took a lot of gel to make Archie's hair and that stuff wasn't definitely wasn't soft). Upon further examination, she discovered his ears had migrated to the top of his head in the form of the ear's a dog would have. They were jet black and _boy _were they noticeable.

Right then, Archie's eyes snapped open and he blushed furiously, "What are you doing, Atlanta!?"

In explanation, she flicked his left ear and said simply, "I think there's something wrong with us…"

...

Herry awoke to an awkward pain in his ankle, his eyes slowly creaking open and a groan escaping his lips.

Tiredly, he rolled off his bed and onto his feet, but lost his balance and fell backwards with a _whoosh_ of air leaving his lungs as he hit cold, punishing tiles.

"Whoa," he moaned, leaning against his mattress and examining his ankle.

He looked at his sock in confusion as it sagged at an odd angle, as if there was a space where his toes were supposed to be.

Curious, he pulled off his sock and his face scrunched up in confusion.

"What!?" he asked to no one in particular, his eye twitching as he tried to touch the brown _paw_ that sat where his foot was supposed to be.

Not sure how he should be reacting to this, he scratched the back of his head, his face calculating.

"I am dreaming…" he declared.

So he ignored the brown fur that stretched from his paw to his knee, stood up, took a few steps, and fell flat on his face.

He crawled back to his bed and glared at the paws, "Okay… I'm not dreaming. I'm just delusional because I'm hungry!"

In a fit of denial, he slowly started the trek to his closet, limping and stumbling as his paws failed to support the rest of his body weight. Five minutes later, he managed to successfully pull on his usual pants before slumping back on his bed at the effort..

Looking down at his paws that were unfortunately still there, he decided that was a problem that _could_ be fixed and pulled out his brown shoes from underneath his bed, stuffed a few socks in it, then slipped his paw in.

"There!" he beamed.

With much trouble, Herry stumbled to his door, flung it open, and tripped flat on his face before crawling to the staircase, mumbling that he could do this.

He paused and buried his face into the carpet.

"I think there's something wrong with me."

...

When Neil woke up, he was slumped on the floor, his hand inches away from his mirror.

Making an unintelligible noise, Neil slowly rose to his feet and stretched out his arms and yawned loudly.

"Mmmfmm, mirror," his whispered inaudibly, standing straighter to stretch out his back as he yawned.

Answering his own question, he glanced down and grinned, energy returning to the young descendant, "Oh, _there_ it is!"

He bent down and picked it up, examining himself in his mirror while kneeling. It only took him two seconds for his obnoxious expression to transform into one of utter horror and shock; the mirror slipped from his hand and clattered onto the floor.

"Oh. My. God!" Neil yelped through clenched teeth, standing abruptly and rushing to his full-length mirror to gawk at himself.

His skin was ghostly white, his eyes had shifted colour from brown to a shiny red; he looked like the result of some bad lighting and an unprofessional camera flash!

That wasn't all, he noted with discontent, his arms had long strands of white hair sprouting out of them and the same symptoms showed on his legs.

"I'M A HAIRY, ALBINO FREAK!" Neil screamed in horror, his hands pulling at his now-bleach white hair.

...

"Quiet it down!" Odie shouted at the wall, throwing his arm over his eyes in a vain attempt to block them from the sunlight.

He sighed loudly and rubbed his forearm with his hand, stopping through mid-exhale and freezing. His eyes snapped open and he turned to look at his arm with wide eyes. It had felt _too_ smooth under his palm and had felt abnormally warm which arose the suspicion in Odie's dark brown eyes.

"What the!?" Odie cried in surprise, staring down at his arm.

Where there had been his dark skin, pitch-black feathers were now randomly sprouting out of his arm.

Odie looked both ways, terrified that someone would see him like this, and snatched his regular red jacket from the floor and wrapped it around himself.

He ran to his door, fitting his arm through the sleeve, and opened it, cautiously peering through.

"This isn't right," he whispered to himself, zipping up his jacket, "but nobody has to know about this…

* * *

Later that same morning, Archie was armed and ready with a tight fitting toque to cover his ears. Atlanta stood next to him, clad in a pair of mismatching mittens.

As the two walked into the kitchen, they saw a hunched-back Herry rummaging the fridge hungrily, Jay staring at his meal self-consciously, and Theresa who was taking a small bite of her cereal sporting a pair of shaded sunglasses.

Jay looked up, looking glad to have found an excuse to ignore his meal, and stared at the two of them, "Going somewhere?"

Archie looked surprised at his comment and opened his mouth to reply, but Atlanta beat him to it, "Yeah, just going for a run, what does it look like? Come on Arch!"

Archie looked slightly putout and sighed, "Yeah... running... that's what we're doing."

As soon as they were out the front door and in the cool, fall morning air, he turned to her with a frown.

"Good idea and all," Archie commemorated sarcastically, "but I'm hungry… couldn't we have just stayed for breakfast?"

"Too bad," Atlanta rolled her eyes, "You'll survive."

"Well, I don't know…" Archie grumbled, patting his stomach.

Wordlessly, Atlanta sped up, leaving Archie yards behind.

"Hey, wait up!" came his shout of surprise.

After circling the park a few times, Archie finally coaxed Atlanta into going back to the dorm with him for food.

As soon as they had burst through the front door, Archie had stomped off to go lie on the couch and catch his breath.

Smirking lightly, Atlanta walked into the kitchen and caught a snippet of Theresa's conversation.

"-Contacts! Yeah, did they scare you or, uh, something?"

"What's happnin'?" Atlanta asked coolly, taking a seat at the table across from Theresa and Jay.

"Theresa got new contacts…" Odie said weakly, pointing at her eyes.

Theresa bit her bottom lip and smiled nervously, "Um, yeah…"

"I saw them at the eye doctor, and since Halloween's coming up, I thought, why not?" Theresa shrugged.

"Theresa… Halloween was a month ago…" Herry pointed out bluntly.

"Was it?" Theresa asked in a high pitch tone, "Oh, yeah, well, y'know… it's still coming up in about… a year."

Cutting off all of their suspicious looks, Jay stood abruptly with his bowl of cereal, "Yeah, I think I'm going to go eat in my room…"

Odie shrugged and turned back to his meal, oblivious to the looks Jay was shooting Theresa, "Good for you, man."

"Oh!" she spoke in realization, "And I'll go take off my contacts!"

Quickly she sped off after Jay down the hallway.

"Atlanta!" Archie's voice rang from where he sat on the couch, tinged with panic.

Atlanta stood up and walked up to the kitchen doorway so she could see him, "Yeah?"

He sprung to his feet and rushed over to her, then, placing both of his hands on the back of her shoulders, pushed her over to the couch and sat her down.

"It's spreading!" he said simply, gesturing at her arm which was now covered in large, black splotches, "Should we go see Chiron about this?"

"No!" Atlanta said, "I mean, we should go tomorrow… what if it's only a one day thing and we wake fine, like, without the ears, claws, and black dots! Plausible? Totally."

"I seriously doubt it," Archie said dubiously before suddenly slipping off his blue jacket and handing it to, "Just… put this on to cover your arms, okay? Then go upstairs and find another jacket you can wear."

Atlanta nodded sharply and pulled her arm into one of the over-sized sleeves, "Okay."

After successfully zipping up the jacket, Atlanta looked down at herself, then up at Archie dubiously, "You're kidding me, right?"

He stood back and admired her for a second, before shaking his head seriously and pushing her towards the stairs, "No, now go!"

"Wait, Arch," she called, and then quieted her voice as he turned to look at her, "Do you think we should just tell the others?"

Archie hesitated, his mind drifting back to his not-so-rude awakening when Atlanta had his hands through his hair, studying him like he was a specimen that she just had to know about. He looked up and saw how great the fiery red head looked in his jacket, so much smaller and gentler than she usually did when she was beating him in every race and mouthing off at him… and all of a sudden he just didn't want to tell the others. It felt like a secret the two of them alone shared, and he felt blood rush to his cheeks at his selfish thoughts. Still, he voiced aloud, "No, no, no… uh, we should figure what's going on first just in case."

Atlanta sighed, eyeing him as she climbed up the stairs, bumping into Jay, Theresa, and Neil on her way.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Atlanta blurted out rudely, causing Neil to pull his baseball cap lower over his face and to whimper.

"What happened to you?" Theresa countered, gesturing down at her, "Did your boyfriend lend you his jacket?"

Thinking quickly for a fault in Theresa, Atlanta retorted, "Yeah, well, nice ears!"

Atlanta stormed passed her up the stairs, while behind her Theresa was feeling wildly for the ears on her head, squealing loudly as she felt them on top of her head like Archie's.

Theresa snatched the hat off of Neil's head and slapped it on to cover her ears, then grabbed Jay's hand and hurried him down the stairs faster so nobody would see her.

Halfway down the hall to her room, Atlanta froze as her words sank in.

Where _were_ Theresa's ears?

Was she like Archie too?

Quickly, she dismissed the thought; she had probably just imagined it. So instead, she entered her room and pulled on a grey sweater with long sleeves that hung off of her wrists, which would hopefully protect both her claws and spots from view.

Stomping down the stairs, she went to go join Archie at the table and finally have breakfast.

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**AN: Soooo yeah. That's that. Hope you all liked it :)**


	3. Visions

**_Chapter 2: Visions_**

* * *

As soon as the trio pushed through the door of the Brownstone and into the fresh air, Theresa heaved a sigh of relief and slowed her pace. She glanced down and looked at Jay's hand still in hers, feeling her cheeks warm as she tilted her chin up to the cold but refreshing breeze. She thought she could see Jay grin slightly behind her.

"Too hot in there," she mumbled, pulling at the neck of her red sweater and guiding the two boys behind her to the garage.

"How are we supposed to get anywhere? Herry won't drive us, he's too busy eating the entire fridge," Neil said loudly.

"We're taking my car, genius," she said as she brandished a pair of keys.

Neil shrugged, pulling a pair of dark sunglasses from his pocket and self-consciously pulling them over his sensitive eyes, "'Kay, whatever, can I have my hat back?"

"No!" she glared at him, patting the offending hat to make sure it covered her newly-sprouted ears.

Neil shrunk back and muttered something under his breath.

Jay shot her a worried glance, looking pained as he took his hand away from hers. Theresa looked up at him in question, to which Jay simply rested a hand on her shoulder, "You okay, Theresa?"

"Yeah, yeah," Theresa sighed resignedly, pressing two fingers to her temple and massaging, "I'm just stressed, that's all."

"Well, I think we all are here… we should talk to the rest of the group about it when we get back, maybe it'll lighten the load," Jay suggested with an encouraging smile.

Theresa nodded back, then felt a shiver as Jay's warm fingers ran down her arm to grab her hand again with a reassuring squeeze. She met his eyes shyly, tilting her head to the side and opening her mouth to talk-

"Hello?" Neil yelled obnoxiously from the other side of the red car, "Are we leaving or no?"

"Yeah, Nei-"

"I call shotgun!" he whooped, pulling at the door handle impatiently like a child.

"Neil, you sure you want that front seat?" Jay asked, holding back a snicker.

"What?"

"I mean, just… looking like that," Jay feigned horror, "What if someone saw you?"

Neil's shoulders visibly slumped, as if suddenly remembering he was no longer the ridiculously handsome model he was 24 hours ago.

"Can we stop at a store and find a hat soon please," he said dejectedly, moving to sit in the back seat.

Jay looked at Theresa and chuckled while she raised her eyebrows at him and mouthed, "Poor Neil."

Theresa unlocked the doors and watched as Neil tumbled inside, kneeling on the car's floor behind the car seat and sighing dramatically.

"Okay, I'm ready," Neil announced.

Theresa rolled her eyes and started the car, reversing it out of the driveway and in the direction of the School.

"Put your seatbelt on, Neil!" Jay reminded helpfully.

Then, Neil burst into a huge rant about how horrible it would be to crash and how he would get on the news and have people see him in the shape he's in, then promptly concluded that if Theresa was a good driver at all, he wouldn't need a seatbelt, which annoyed her to no end.

Theresa turned around to snap at him to shut up or she would make him, but instead froze as everything turned blue, reality sinking farther away as a scene, a vision, enfolded before her.

_An island in the far distance floated, the greenery a more brown, dry colour. From overhead, a clearing in the middle of the dead forest could barely be seen, the grass yellow and straw-like. A mansion sat there, surrounded by a moat of water, and upon further inspection, strange creatures paced all around as if guarding something. Six out-of-place animals sat in a circle, muzzles moving as though communicating. And suddenly, the scene changed and she was falling forward as if being pushed from behind. Rough grass scratched her face as her vision forced her to spin around where a lion stood in triumph, mighty muscles under its pelt rippling as it looked pleased to have earned a meal. The lion even had blood-caked claws which it raised again before beginning to rake them over her exposed midriff-_

"Theresa!" Jay yelled suddenly, snapping her out of her reverie.

Jay had reached over from his spot and was trying to steer the wheel but was failing miserably.

She took a deep breath; had she just seen her own death?

Theresa sucked back salty tears and instead made her voice sound more confident, "Sorry!"

She turned back around and grabbed hold of the wheel, "I, uh, just had a vision…"

Jay sighed in relief and relaxed back into his seat, "What happened?"

"Might I add, not helping the whole 'Theresa-is-a-good-driver-and-won't-get-us-killed-and-on-the-news' argument!" Neil yelled in alarm, hastily buckling his seatbelt around himself.

"Oh, you know, it wasn't very specific," she lied through her teeth, "I saw a water mansion and an island… but nothing else…"

Jay shrugged, "I guess you can see Persephone about that…"

Theresa nodded slowly.

The rest of the ride they rode in silence, except for Neil who occasionally stuck his head out the window and yelled at people on the sidewalk, "IT'S NOT POLITE TO STARE!"

As they pulled into of the parking lot, Theresa jumped out of the car and began jogging to the school as fast as she could, leaving Jay and Neil to slowly get out of the car.

"What's up with her?" Neil asked, receiving a shrug in response.

They sprinted to catch up just as she was pushing through the front doors.

"Whoa, hey, Theresa!" Neil said in surprise, "When did you have time to tan?"

"Huh?" Theresa asked, looking down at her arm.

Her skin was changing to an orange colour, like she had been visiting the tanning salon too much, or perhaps had way too many cheetos.

"It's still spreading!" Theresa screeched, looking close to tears.

"It's okay, Theresa!" Jay said, keeping his voice calm and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "Chiron will know what to do…"

Theresa took a deep breath and tried to feign control, silently wondering what was wrong with her.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she nodded, still feeling a little off as she pondering her vision, a bead of sweat running down her forehead as she wondered how long she had left.

As they reached the Janitor's Closet and the portal, Theresa reached for the medallion around her neck and paused as she saw something else on her hand. Four pink splotches sat on each of her fingers where her fingerprint was supposed to be.

"Gah, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!" Theresa screamed in frustration, angrily showing her fingers to the others.

"Yeesh, tough break!" Neil sympathized.

"Never mind, let's just go before I grow horns and a tail!" Theresa sighed, placing her medallion into the slot, watching the hand on it circle two times before a small click sounded.

She took it out and opened the door for the others, walking in after them and slamming it shut behind her.

Jay pulled on the light switch and the blue portal flashed brightly in front of them, lighting up the dark room.

Impatiently, Theresa pushed through the portal just as it began to open and irritably brushed passed Hermes on her way in with a belated "Excuse me!"

As the other two passed through, they sent a confused Hermes shrugs before rushing after Theresa again.

Upon entering Hera's Solarium, they spotted the matron goddess sitting on one of the couches, stroking one of her peacocks absentmindedly.

"Ah, hello…" Hera smiled gracefully, rising to her feet and raising her arms in greeting.

Skipping the pleasantries, Neil went right to the point, "Is Chiron around right now?"

Hera nodded and pointed out one of the doors, "Yes, just in the other wing. Why, what seems to be the problem?"

Jay averted his gaze, "We think there's something wrong with us… something Chiron might be equipped to handle."

"Though you can't tell the others!" Neil blurted out, then paused and thought hard, "Um… oh, I know! Swear on the… what's-it-called-River-Styx?"

Looking taken aback for a second, Hera sighed, "I swear on the River Styx I won't tell Archie, Atlanta, Herry, or Odie… now, what's wrong?"

Wordlessly, Neil pointed to himself and removed the sunglasses, then bluntly pulled Theresa's hat off, then reached over and attempted to pull back Jay's lips to bare his fangs, earning a well-deserved glare from Jay.

Hera had a look of surprise before she yelled out in alarm, "Chiron, come here!"

Distantly, Jay heard the sound of Chiron trotting into the room, pulling at his grey beard in confusion.

"What's wrong, Miss Hera?" Chiron asked politely, shooting glances at the trio.

Hera grimaced, "I don't particularly know… I was hoping you could take a look at them, Chiron."

"Of course!" the old centaur gestured to his office, "Right this way."

"Thanks, Chiron," Jay grinned at the centaur as they brushed passed him into the room.

After an hour of examining them all, Chiron called for Dionysus, who stumbled in with a startled look of alarm, "Why hello, Chiron, is it true? Are the children really-"

He stopped short and looked surprised, "Oh my, they're still here? Oh, well, yes, I'll take a look at them. I just need to take some simple blood samples!"

He pulled a needle out from behind his back and there was a _thump_ as Neil fainted onto the floor.

"Do him first," Jay grinned, looking at Neil with an amused expression.

Fifteen minutes later they all sat in Dionysus's lab, watching the computer screen as he tried to find a match for their blood; apparently, all of their bloodstreams showed some form of connection.

"Aha, here we go!" Dionysus exclaimed with unnecessary volume, typing something on the screen and leaning back in satisfaction as an image of a beautiful woman holding a golden vial in her hand appeared.

"Circe," Chiron whispered over Dionysus's shoulder, "Just as I suspected."

"Who?" asked Jay; he hadn't heard of this myth before.

Chiron looked at Dionysus doubtfully, then turned to the three heroes, "We have to discuss this… we can tell you everything tomorrow. Bring the others, okay?"

Chiron looked back at Dionysus and guided him out of the three's earshot then began to talk.

Taking it as their dismissal, they left Dionysus's lab and Jay spoke up hesitantly, "I guess we should go…"

"I should go see Persephone first, actually, you go on ahead without me!" Theresa said absent-mindedly and waved them away.

"Hey, I'm not walking _all the way_ to the dorm!" Neil complained, "And you obviously won't let us drive your car!"

"What Neil means to say is… that we'll wait for you," Jay said, sending looks at Neil who shrugged, looking unashamed.

Theresa nodded, and motioned for them to follow her as she went to go see Persephone.

She opened the door and closed it after her, leaving Jay and Neil there to wait.

Inside, Theresa spotted Persephone right away, making roses and lilies sprout from a Greek pot, blossoming into beautiful colours she didn't think those flowers could naturally be.

"Persephone?" Theresa called out from the doorway.

"Theresa!" Persephone exclaimed, "Come in, come in!"

Theresa bit her bottom lip and slowly walked up to her, thinking over how to explain this to Persephone.

In the end, Theresa started from the beginning where she had woken up totally _mutated_, not stopping until she finished explaining his vision.

"And you talked to Chiron about this? Not the vision, but what happened to you three?" Persephone asked, continuing when Theresa nodded, "Then I think you should let Chiron explain it all to you tomorrow. But, beware, Theresa, you'll need to hold on to that vision, it'll be very useful."

"But I die in it, how in the world could that be useful!" Theresa blurted out, then shut her mouth as she realized she was probably being rude, "Sorry, Miss Persephone."

"It's all right," Persephone said distractedly, "It's just, Theresa… in a vision, you could think that you know exactly what's going on and what it means, but be completely wrong. You don't know the events that lead up to that exact moment in time, so there's a chance your vision means something entirely different than what you thought. Trust me, Theresa."

'_But it felt so real,'_ she meant to speak it out loud, but thought better of it, resting a hand on her stomach that was beginning to feel sick.

She raised her head after a moment of thinking hard about what the Goddess of Spring had said, then grinned gratefully, "You're probably right, thank you, Persephone!"

Theresa strode through the doors and met Jay and Neil outside, feeling more confident than before.

"How'd it go?" Jay asked.

"She just cleared up some stuff for me!" Theresa smiled at him brightly.

After finishing those words, she suddenly felt herself go faint and she slumped forward into Neil, drawing a staggered breath as another scene hit her.

_Seven teens stood on a beach, looking out at the horizon at a breathtaking sunset, a whirl of soft but bright colours. A girl with long, fiery red hair threw her arms in the air and spoke words she didn't understand, her eyes closed in concentration. Her eyes snapped open, glowing white, and as if in reaction to this, the water seemed to part. No, not part, not quite… a sandy pathway ascended from the salty depths from the shore all the way to an island far out. Immediately, the scene changed. 'Welcome to Durange, Mexico's Zoo' a huge sign flashed across her sight. For a horrible, split second, she saw a caged Lion roaring as if in pain and felt a wave of nausea flow over her. Anguish as well as fear was in its eyes as it met hers. Then, darkness. A familiar maniacal laugh boomed, and she could feel the dark texture of his voice slither up as though it were spoken into her ear, "Thank you, dear Circe."_

Theresa's eyes snapped open and the world came rushing back as she leaned on Neil for support.

"Whoa," Theresa breathed.

"What was it this time?" Jay asked, searching her hazel eyes.

"I know where Circe is…" Theresa turned to look at both Neil and Jay.

"So it's a person?" Neil asked in surprise.

"Yeah, well, a goddess, maybe… I don't know what she's doing to us, but I bet we can find out!" Theresa said, determination flashing in her eyes, "And I can tell you for sure that Cronus is in on it too."

"Yeah, but Chiron's going to tell us everything anyway… can't we wait until tomorrow?" Neil asked.

"I guess," Theresa deflated, "Anyway, you guys ready to go?"

Neil nodded vigorously, "Puh-lease!"

* * *

"Since when do you wear _pants_?" Odie asked, eyeing his muscly friend suspiciously.

Herry shrugged, "Since it, y'know, got too cold to wear shorts!"

"Touché," Odie grinned in reply, "Just weird, I gue-"

"So, what's that black thing on your arm?" Herry countered, leaning over Odie's shoulder to take a look at his sleeve.

"Nothing!" Odie shot back, thinking quickly as he moved to pull his sleeve over the exposed feathers that were sprouting from his skin, "I just wrote on myself with a, uh, pen!"

"Lemme see what you wrote!" Herry said curiously, grinning as he tried to get a better look at his arm.

Odie hid his arm under the table and screeched, "Ah, no! I mean… you don't wanna see it!"

"Why?" Herry asked, "What, did you write something about me?"

"Um, yes…?" Odie supplied.

"Then why can't I look?" Herry asked, narrowing his eyes, reaching for his arm.

"No, don't look! It's, uh, inappropriate!"

A look of horror crossed Herry's face and he looked close to puking, "Oh god, I think you're right… if it's about me, maybe I don't wanna see it!"

Herry ran from the room, leaving a bewildered Odie sitting at the table.

Odie froze. _Oh God_.

He stood up and ran after Herry screaming, "No wait, Herry! I like WOMEN, don't worry!"

* * *

Archie sat on the couch, watching Odie run up the stairs, declaring which gender he was physically attracted to.

"Ooookaaaay…" Archie said dumbfounded, his face scrunched up in confusion.

* * *

"Hah, oh man, don't worry I didn't see anything!" Herry said, backing up as Odie neared him.

"No wait, Herry! Look, I'll show you what's on my arm!" Odie said angrily, rolling his sleeves.

Herry snorted, scrunching his eyes closed in laughter. "I was just joking with you, man," Herry chuckled, "But hey, go ahead and show me anyway. This ought to be good."

Odie rolled his eyes and pulled up his sleeve, revealing midnight feathers covering his arms.

Herry froze.

"What the heck!?" Herry asked, looking up at Odie in disbelief.

"Quiet it down!" Odie whispered, "Don't let anyone else hear you!"

"I kind of just woke up like this… I think there's something wrong with me," Odie said in a hushed voice.

"Whoa, so you too, huh?" Herry asked in awe.

"What do you mean "you too"?"

Herry pulled off his shoe then removed his sock, showing his friend the paw that was in place of his foot.

"And that's not all…" Herry said, pulling up the leg of his pants and showing Odie the fur.

"Weird… and it's happening to us both?" Odie pondered aloud, "What if it's happening to the others?"

"What if it isn't?" Herry pointed out bluntly.

"Yeah, you're right… we should check it out with Hera before we tell them." Odie planned.

Herry nodded, "Okay, let's go downstairs."

Herry put his shoe back on and stumbled down the stairs.

What they hadn't noticed, though, was Atlanta who stood at her doorway; she had seen the whole thing.

* * *

"Archie!" Atlanta squealed, pounding down the stairs a few seconds after Odie and Herry, "Guess what!"

"You changed your jacket?" he offered lamely, "Odie isn't gay?"

Atlanta looked down at her jacket and shrugged, "Well, yes to both of those, BUT!" she had her finger in the air, pausing for dramatic effect, "I found out that _what's happening to us_ is _also_ _happening to Odie and Herry_!"

"What, really?" Archie sat up straighter, "That's good news, I think!"

"Do you think Neil, Theresa, and Jay have it too?" Atlanta asked hopefully.

"I don't know…" Archie said slowly, "But we easily could ask."

Atlanta grinned happily and, in her biggest voice, called out, "ODIE! HERRY! COME HERE!"

Just around the corner, the two walked in, covering their ears in pain.

"We know." Atlanta said simply.

Herry and Odie exchanged looks.

"I'm _not_ gay!" Odie argued angrily.

Archie chuckled, "No, not that! Odie. Herry. We _know_."

Herry simpered nervously, "Know, uh, what?"

In reply, Archie took off his toque and Atlanta pulled off her jacket and mittens.

"It's happening to us too!" Atlanta stated bluntly.

* * *

**AN: Woo, an update! Can you believe it? Me neither - anyway, I was having a pretty stressful time with school but most of that terrible part is over thankfully. I hope to continue updating more frequently, and your reviews are always great encouragement! :) Seriously, a review that came earlier today reminded me to update this thing and I probably would not have remembered save for this kind person! So tell me your thoughts - loved it? hated it? What animals do you think each of the gang is turning in to?**


	4. Woman in Black

_**Chapter 3: Woman in Black**_

* * *

"What I can't believe is that Jay and Theresa would hide this from us! I mean, I get Neil, but-"

"Well we hid it from each other, didn't we, Archie?"

"I would be willing to bet you a large sum of money that Neil has it too!"

"Yeah, and what about Theresa and her creepy eyes?"

"They're contacts, remember!"

"Well, she could've lied!"

"Actually, I think I saw her have ears like Archie's!"

"So Neil and Theresa have it? That only leaves Jay."

"He was acting all self-conscious at breakfast, I think he has it too!"

Just then, the front door opened and all of their voices that had been talking over each other hushed.

"Hey, guys!" Theresa waved, pulling at her hat awkwardly.

She was greeted by silence. Archie turned to Atlanta and noticed she was bearing a mischievous grin which he had come to know as her diabolical-plan-plotting smile. He was often at the butt-end of these so-called jokes of hers.

"Hey, Theresa, can I see your hat?" Atlanta asked innocently.

"Uh, no, I'm wearing it," Theresa pointed out, her eyebrow raised.

"But you're inside now! You don't need it!" Archie eagerly cut in, spreading his arms wide and looking around the room as if to demonstrate how 'inside' they truly were.

"Uh, well…" Theresa searched for an answer, her mouth opening and closing voicelessly.

"You can, but first I have to show Theresa something!" Jay stepped in front of Theresa and blocked Archie and Atlanta's vulture-like hands that were reaching towards her hat.

He then grabbed Theresa's wrist and tried to rush up the stairs with her, earning him several grateful looks from the flustered red head.

Atlanta stood abruptly and used her speed to cut them off at the staircase.

"Hey, stay bac-" Theresa tried to maneuver around her, only to be pushed against the wall and have her hat snatched off of her head followed by a triumphant, "AHA!"

At the collective gasp of surprise from her roommates, Theresa clapped her hands over her furry ears and yelped in shock, ducking her head and rushing up the stairs in embarrassment.

Jay stared at Atlanta in shock, "Uh-oh."

"Called it," Herry called with disinterest from the couch, trying to balance a chip between his paws and into his mouth.

"Just like the rest of us," Atlanta announced smugly, then yelling up the stairs, "Theresa, come back!"

"What the hell was that?" Jay demanded angrily, gesturing towards the upstairs where Theresa had run off, "How was that any way to tell us anything?"

Jay stomped up the stairs after Theresa.

"What is happening!?" Neil shouted at the ceiling.

Atlanta looked back at her friends hopelessly, before waiting a beat and walking up after him. She took the stairs two at a time and walked up to Theresa's closed door, creaking it open and poking her head in.

Theresa was ruffling through her closet frantically, when Jay suddenly rested a hand on her shoulder causing her to halt her actions very suddenly. He spoke too gently for Atlanta to hear, and as she was about to announce her presence, she watched in surprise as Theresa turned around and rested a hand on Jay's face. She could only see the back of Jay's head, but Theresa's eyes were calm and forgiving before her eyes met Atlanta's at the door. She dropped the hand and smiled.

"Hey," Theresa scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, there was probably a better way to approach the matter," Atlanta spoke genuinely, raising her hands and gesturing to her sharp claws that replaced her fingernails, "Let's go downstairs and discuss the matter better."

Theresa nodded knowingly, following Atlanta down the stairs and saying, "I had a suspicion it was happening to you guys too, you know…"

When they arrived back on the first floor, everyone took a turn presenting their abnormalities starting with Herry's paws and Odie's feathers, then finishing up with Neil's ridiculously pale complexion and hair.

Archie snickered at Neil, "I knew something was wrong with you at first glance…"

Neil whimpered something quietly that sounded like, "I'm hideous," then a small sob.

"You, too," Atlanta nodded at Jay, "What's wrong with you?"

Jay rolled his eyes and flashed his fangs, watching Atlanta wince.

"Oh."

"Anyway," Jay said, bringing Neil out of his own little sob-fest by patting him on the back, "Chiron says to meet back with him tomorrow. He says what is happening to us has something to do with some witch or Goddess of some sort called Circe. Until then, we're going to have to keep it on the down low, so a night-in tonight, everybody."

"Who is Circe?" Archie asked.

"I know a thing or two about Circe," Odie said from his spot on the couch.

"Circe was a Queen Goddess who lived on this island called Aeaea. Her father was Helios, the God of the sun and the owner of the land where my descendant, Odysseus', men arrived and ate the cattle. In myths it was said that Circe transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals through the use of magical potions. She was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs. Also, she was in love with Odysseus and helped him with his quest, but was enraged when he betrayed her…"

"So Circe's turning us into animals as some sort of revenge?" Theresa demanded.

"Extremely belated if she is," Odie shrugged, "It's possible!"

"Let's not forget about Cronus," Jay said bitterly after a second.

After an hour of discussing a couple of theories over dinner, the heroes were soon bored of the topic and agreed to wait for further information from Chiron and Dionysus the following day.

"So, since we're all stuck with each other for the night, who wants to watch a movie?" Archie said as he put away a plate

"Yeah, too bad we can't go out and actually _get_ one at the movie store…" Odie rolled his eyes, "We're keeping it on the '_down low'_."

"Well, I suppose I can go. I just need to wear a toque!" Archie volunteered.

"Yeah, but you kind of look like a robber when you wear it," Atlanta laughed unapologetically, "I didn't want to tell you before…"

"Why doesn't Jay go? He's the most normal!" Herry suggested.

"Okay," Jay shrugged, "What kinds of movies do you guys want?"

"Get a scary one!" Archie and Atlanta called out in unison.

Jay looked at Theresa who looked pretty distant; she noticed his gaze and shrugged, "I'll watch anything, I guess…"

"Action!" Herry called out.

Odie yanked his thumb in Herry's direction, "I'm with him only because I know nobody's going to want to spring for that documentary about life on Mars…"

Neil sighed, "Well… I dunno…"

"He chooses a scary one!" Atlanta shouted, standing from her spot on the couch and pushing Jay towards the door before anybody could object, "Now get it!"

Jay rolled his eyes and complied, grabbing his jacket on the way out.

He stuck his head back around the corner to look at them all, "Do I have to walk?"

"Come on, Jay, you're a big boy now!" Archie smirked.

"It's getting dark!" Jay said in an exasperated tone.

"Sorry, I'd drive you…" Herry sighed and kicked his back paws into the air, "But I don't have any feet still. Sorry, man."

"I guess I _could_ drive you…" Theresa thought, "I'd just need a hat. Oh, and I'm not going in the store."

"Okay, come on!" Jay grinned, "I'll wait at your car."

As the two had left the Brownstone, Herry turned to look at the others, "Jay's totally into her."

* * *

Around twenty minutes later, Jay and Theresa both stepped through the door of the dorm again.

"What'd you get?" Neil called out as they walked into the room.

"The Woman in Black," Jay replied, flashing them the cover sporting an angsty-looking Daniel Radcliff before slipping it into the DVD player.

"Hmm, I was hoping more crazy serial ax-killer chasing people through the dark kind of scary movie but I suppose this will do," Atlanta joked.

Herry took up the big recliner, Neil, Odie, Jay, and Theresa had all squished together on the fairly small couch, and Archie and Atlanta claimed the floor as their territory.

"Hold on, this movie is missing something!" Herry cried suddenly, standing up and running to the kitchen.

All that was heard was the sound of popping for the next three minutes before Herry lumbered in with three huge bowls, almost tripping over his paws as he walked. He looked rather proud of himself as he arrived in front of his roommates.

"There we go, _much_ better!" Herry grinned, handing a bowl to Atlanta and Archie, and one to Jay, Theresa, Odie, and Neil, then kept one for himself, "Start the movie!"

Odie grabbed the remote and pressed play, immediately the screen flashed to life and an eerie scene appeared.

Halfway through the movie, all you could hear was the main characters breathing as he paced around the mansion he was trapped in for the night, opening doors and turning corners while the background music screamed suspense.

Theresa was gripping Jay's arm so tight he felt like he was losing circulation.

"Theresa…?" Jay asked hesitantly, ready to ask Theresa to loosen her deathhold.

Then, something flashed on the screen, a face in a window, and Theresa jumped, her face looking pale green as her eyes stayed glued to the screen.

"Theresa?" he asked a bit louder.

Turning her horrified orbs away from the screen, she turned to look at him, only to blush as she realized that their faces were only a few inches apart. If he leaned just a little farther…

"Uh…" Jay said dumbly, forgetting what he had wanted to ask, content on just staring into her slit, but still pretty, eyes.

Finally, the pain in his arm returned and he remembered, "Could you loosen your grip a bit?"

He broke eye contact to look down at her hand which was gripping his arm.

Theresa dropped his arm like lava and muttered an apology under her breath, making her hand sit in her lap as calmly as possible before turning back to the screen. The screen flashed again and she looked like she wanted to grab his arm again, but just contented in clenching her knuckles instead.

Odie looked over at Theresa's clenched hands, "You need to stress ball, Theresa?"

Theresa nodded seriously while still staring at the screen.

Odie raised his eyebrows and shook his head before sinking back into the couch and returning his attention back to the movie.

Five minutes later, Theresa's knuckles were so white from clenching, that Jay decided to sympathize her and give her his hand.

She looked up at him as he wrapped his hand around hers; he simply said, "Don't break the stress ball, please," and turned back to the movie.

Eventually, when the movie had only a few minutes left, almost everybody was asleep except for Theresa who was glaring at the screen in exasperation.

As the movie finally ended she threw her arms up and looked around, ready to rant about the ending, only to look around the dark room and find only limp figures scattered randomly throughout. All she could hear was the sound of breathing and it made her shiver.

A reminder from the movie, she started taking in smaller breaths as if she was terrified the others would take up all of the house's oxygen.

"I hate scary movies…" she whispered finally, trying to lean back in her seat to relax and fall asleep. She honestly would have been content watching Hercules for the umpteenth time; movies with death usually gave her frightening real nightmares. Or maybe they were visions, she couldn't tell which.

After a few minutes of shifting restlessly, she considered leaning against Jay. On second thought though, she couldn't bear the idea of him waking up first and seeing a Theresa with bed head drooling all over his shoulder. She shook her head and decided to just go to her room, but when she went to stand up, she felt a tug on her arm. She squinted into the darkness, suddenly noticing that Jay's hand was still clutched in hers.

"W-wha," came his sleepy voice. His eyes were peeked open and looking up at her.

Even in the darkness, she couldn't deny that he was handsome. His hair had gone wayward in all directions, but the lazy comfortable eyes that gazed up at her just made her want to scream.

Instead she opted to biting her lip and prying her fingers from his as gently as she could, to which his response was to squeeze tighter.

He mumbled something that sounded like he was wondering where she was going.

She tilted her head towards the stairs and her room, to which he shook his head and yanked her down into him, enfolding her into his arms.

"Jay!" she whisper-yelled, secretly pleased. She wiggled in his arms to get away but he did not let, an out of character chuckle erupting from his chest, the teenager in him seeming to show.

She twisted in his arms until she was facing him, pressing her hands against his chest to pull away, but she looked up and met his eyes that were so close to hers. Mistake. She could see every last detail of his face, from his pores to each individual eyelash. She stopped struggling and felt something dormant rumbling in her chest, vibrating almost as she dropped her eyes to his lips.

Her eyes rose to his, but his hooded eyes were preoccupied with her lips. Her breaths felt suddenly shallow in her chest with anticipation as his arms that had been locking her against him rose to her hair, and suddenly his eyes were closing. Then, ever so lightly, she felt the coolness of his lips press to hers for but one millisecond before a huge _THUMP!_ reverberated throughout the room and they jerked apart.

She twisted her head, fingers touching her tingling lips to see the dark form of Herry stumbling through the room, holding his shin in pain and glaring at the table he must have banged it on. He trumped on and a door opened and closed elsewhere in the Brownstone.

Theresa held her breath, heart pounding as she hesitantly turned back to face Jay, his mouth open and eyes wide wordlessly. He didn't look so sleepy anymore.

_Wow, what was I thinking_? she moved her hands back down to his chest and pushed away, to which his arms gave away easily this time.

"I should go," she mumbled inaudibly, saving him the trouble as she practically sprinted away to her room, a feeling of dread replacing the initial reaction of joy of having finally kissed Jay, even if it wasn't even technically… a kiss.

She scrunched her forehead and rested her face in her hands as she sat on the side of her bed. Jay was her friend, and they had been for over a year now. How could she be ruining this with him? She was supposed to be saving the world, not crushing on her roommate. And how and when had this crush snuck up on her?

She raised her fingers to her mouth again, trying to remember the trace of his lips. They had just barely brushed really but her head was feeling quite dizzy.

_Ahh, don't get obsessed, _she chastised herself, trading her usual red tank top for a white one and pajama pants. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she tucked under her warm covers, feeling her heart heavy as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Atlanta's eyes flickered open lazy as the morning light filtered in through the blinds, yawning as she lifted her head off of Archie's shoulder. She rolled her shoulders back in a stretch, trying to work an uncomfortable kink out of her neck before standing and observing the room.

She spotted a snoring Odie with his arm wrapped around Neil's shoulder in a protective manner and stifled a laugh. Spotting Herry, she noted that he had somehow managed to flip around in his lazyboy recliner and currently had his head resting in a still partly-full popcorn bowl. She simply shook her head at this as it wasn't like she could say this wasn't normal behaviour for her burly friend.

No Jay or Theresa, she noted, maybe they had retreated to their rooms for the night.

Her fond grin lasted until she entered the Brownstone's bathroom, wavering as she spotted herself in the mirror, something sticking out of her lower back.

"You have got to be kidding me," she exclaimed in exasperation and turned to look at her back, "A tail? Seriously?"

Her tail was long and limber, draping down to the floor in a dull golden colour. With little effort, she rose her tail in the air, watching it swish back and forth and noting that the tip was black. She narrowed her eyes as black splotches began to materialize along the yellow fur, travelling up the tip as if the transformation was not over.

She took in a quick breath and a step back in fear and looked at her arms, noticing similar black spots appearing there as well. It was spreading, but why wasn't it stopping?

She pressed closer to the mirror as one of her eyes changed colour too, a light hazel crawling up her iris and her pupils dilating.

"Stop!" she felt another shriek bubble up into her chest, but held it in and turned to rush out of the light and back into the living room with her superspeed.

She shook her purple-haired friend's shoulder sharply.

"Archie, wake up, you big lump!"

When he did not respond immediately, she rolled her eyes and whacked him in the face with her tail, a little proud of her precision as he shouted in surprise.

"Atlanta?" he questioned as if he didn't know if he was still dreaming, pulling a piece of fur from his mouth in utter confusion.

His eyes scanned the room, landing on the Odie and Neil with a snigger.

"Bigger issues at hand, Arch," Atlanta squatted down to eye level with him, twirling her tail between her fingers.

"Why are only one of your eyes hazel… and bigger," he tilted his head quizzically, reaching towards her face slowly. She batted his hand away irritably.

"Go wake up Jay and Theresa," she said, watching him stand and walk into the hallway before picking up a couch pillow and sizing it up in her hands.

She whacked Neil and Odie over the head with it and then casually threw it at Herry's back, bouncing off as the three teenagers comically woke up in alarm.

"Wha-aa," Herry groaned, rubbing his face with popcorn sticking out of his hair.

Neil mumbled something about beauty sleep while Odie turned to go lay back down.

Archie walked back into the room with Theresa following suit.

"What's going on?" Theresa rubbed her eyes, a nearly 3 foot long tail dragging behind her as she paced in.

Atlanta scooped up Theresa's tail earning a gasp of shock and placed hers beside Theresa's, examining the differences in length and colour.

"So it's spreading faster than we thought?" Odie asked from the couch, sitting upright now and fully awake.

"Maybe," Theresa muttered absentmindedly, then her cheeks suddenly flushing for no apparent reason, "Where's Jay?"

Archie opened his mouth to say something, but as if on cue, the front door of the Brownstone opened and Jay strolled in.

"Oh good, everyone's up!"

"Where were you? Herry stood, shaking some popcorn to the ground. He stared at the ground in confusion where the popcorn lay but then raised his eyes back to Jay's.

"I was at the school, and I know what's going on now," he nodded concisely.

"Wait, wait, it's only," Neil looked down at his watch before his eyes opened, "7 AM - why the heck are any of us awake? Did you walk there?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep," Jay said, and the proof was the bags under his eyes. It looked like he hadn't slept at all last night. _How weird_, Atlanta wondered as she thought she'd seen him drifting off earlier during the movie.

"Anyway, none of the Gods have the materials or knowledge to make the potion to reverse the process. We're going to have to go to Circe and convince her to change us back," Jay was in leader mode now, his down-to-business face on, "Only problem is, Circe's island, Aeaea, it has moved… back in the times of these Greek myths, it was located around Italy, but we don't know where it is, so Odie, we're going to need you to-"

"It's in Mexico." Theresa's voice spoke up with certainty, "Durange, Mexico."

"How do you know that?" Odie asked, standing from his spot and suddenly wobbling a little bit.

"Trust me I saw it in a vis-" Theresa stopped midway through her sentence as Odie toppled over onto the ground, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I…"

Odie had pulled up his pant leg, revealing his calf had become literally just skin and bones, his feet branching off into 4 razor sharp talons instead of toes. There was no fat or muscle in his lower legs, it was now just yellow and dried skin.

"That is terrifying," Neil commented usefully.

"I'm turning into a bird…" Odie said calmly, then his eyes grew big, "I'm turning… into… a BIRD!? As if the feathers weren't enough, this is a BIRD'S FOOT! How is this supposed to support my weight!?"

"Calm down, buddy, I can just carry y-" Herry looked at his hands hard. Or rather, his paws, "Nope, now I got paws here too. This is not very convenient."

"Ewww, this is so gross," Neil whined, drawing the attention of the room as he held his arm up at eye level. White fur was poking through the pores and thickening all up his arms. He giggled involuntarily, "Ahh, that's ticklish!"

Atlanta exchanged glances with Theresa, "So Theresa and I are turning into some kind of cats."

"Something with fur and paws for me," Herry said.

Neil looked down and himself and frowned, "I swear, if I'm turning into a fat polar bear, this Circe chick is going to regret this so hard."

"Anything new with me?" Archie asked, comically spinning in a circle to check if he had a tail.

"Your eyes," Atlanta pointed out, wondering why she hadn't noticed them earlier. They looked really nice with his hair, "Uh, they changed colour. Navy blue, but that's it as far as I can tell."

"Okay, so everyone go to your rooms and pack a few necessities. We'll go back to the school and get Hermes to draw us up a portal to Mexico," Jay ordered.

"Woo, vacation!" Neil pumped his furry fists in the air and ran up the stairs.

"Weren't you guys listening before? I _can't_ drive with paws!" Herry said grumpily.

"How about Theresa's car?" Jay asked.

"Not enough room…" Theresa sighed, "But I _could_ drive Herry's car!"

Herry's eyes darkened, "Nobody drives my car, but me…"

"Fine then, let's walk!" Atlanta rolled her eyes, throwing her arms into the air dramatically.

"Fine…" Herry grumbled, "But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you, Theresa, never again will this happen!"  
Theresa smiled innocently, "Okay, Herry!"

Grumbling some more, Herry handed his keys to Theresa and stumbled up the stairs to pack

* * *

The seven heroes all stood in front of the portal that Hermes had created in his office, the doors opened and revealing the view of crashing waves.

"So how do we find Aeaea?" Theresa asked, looking up at her mentor

"Trust me, Theresa, only a person with a talent such as yours can find the way," Persephone squeezed her cheek, "You'll know what to do when the time comes."

"Meaning you have no idea either?" Neil asked rudely, examining himself in his golden mirror before tucking it away in his suitcase.

Persephone ignored him and kept going, "The island will be visible at sunset, far off in the distance. Only those who are looking for it will recognize and see it. You'll only have a short time to cross, so make sure you move quickly!"

Everyone nodded that they understood and began to walk towards the portal.

"Don't forget to have fun!" Hermes waved with a goofy smile, "Plenty of time before the sun sets, so check into a hotel."

"We pulled a few strings and got you all off of school for the next few weeks too. You all truly deserve this break," Hera spoke with a gentle, genuine smile.

"Cool, see ya!" Neil flicked his sunglasses on and strode through the portal.

They all rolled their eyes and stepped through the portal. The air was thick and heavy, hot and smoldering.

* * *

**AN: Yes, yes, I realize that video stores are pretty much nonexistent now, but when I wrote this and the show was airing, it was the only method of getting movies (the dark ages, man). Anyway, get your last guesses in for what you think each character will be - you'll be finding out next chapter ;D**

**And again, thanks so much for reviewing, it means a lot even if it's a simple "update soon!" I see all the views I get for the stories and i'm like WATER YOUR OPINIONS cuz they're just views and I have no idea if people just opened the tab and then bailed or wat. WELP, I have rambled. Apologies.**

**Check back soon :) constructive critisisms welcomed**

**P.S. This story is heavy J/T and minor A/A (if you haven't noticed haha)... sooo, do with that information as you will :)**


	5. The Great Reveal

_**Chapter 4: The Great Reveal**_

* * *

"Ahh, this is the life," Neil sighed, then paused to glare at everyone, "Or at least it _would be_ if I didn't have to wear so many layers to cover up my fur! Fashion disaster, much…"

Neil was complaining an awful lot for someone wearing a wife beater and a light jacket to cover up, as well as jeans and a comically large sun hat. However, being in Mexico, he was right to a degree as the air was humid and almost palpable.

Herry too felt like he was wearing too much, as he was in a similar situation having to cover his bothersome paws.

"No flip-flops for me," Herry grumbled.

Meanwhile, Jay was fine in his usual yellow and purple polo t-shirt, with navy blue shorts as all he had to cover was his teeth. Always the precautious, careful man though, he wore a blue, surgical mask just in case, and decided it was a better fate than being way too hot like Neil and Herry. As well, he decided that if any passerbyers were to this mask, they would merely assume he was germaphobic, not a descendant of a Greek hero undergoing transfiguration to become some sort of animal. His hair was a bit shaggy though, he thought absently, wondering if he should perhaps get a haircut soon.

Atlanta had attempted to cover her claws by trimming them a bit, which seemed to work for the time being. She wore a light blue jean jacket to cover her black dotted arms and, to her dismay, a long skirt that would cover her tail.

Archie sported a white t-shirt and a baseball cap for his ears; he wore a pair of green shorts and bore a smirk as he looked at Atlanta.

"You look…" Archie smirked.

"Shut up." Atlanta snapped.

"I was going to say nice!" he rose his hands defensively, chuckling lightly, "Girly… but nice!"

"Ain't nothing wrong with looking girly, Archie," Theresa commented absently, passing by the couple adorning a flowing, yellow sundress, a straw sun hat, and adjusting a pair of brown sunglasses for her eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that," Archie mumbled, eyeing Atlanta forlornly as she batted at him, "I don't know, it's not every day you see the descendant of Artemis wearing a skirt!"

Walking slightly behind them, Odie wore what he always did, seeing as it did the job to cover his clawed talons and feathery arms. He was having struggles though with moving and felt his head bobbing forward with each step. He silently prayed to the Gods he wasn't turning into a chicken.

As the seven approached the hotel they were planning at staying at, Jay reached into his pocket and eyed the credit card that Hermes was letting him use. He definitely wasn't going to abuse this favour the Gods were doing them, especially not by renting a lavish hotel for them to use especially since they were just using it for storage while they were in search of Circe. In fact, the place was kind of a dump, and the guy at the desk gave the heroes weird, skeptical looks as they entered.

"One room, please!" Jay said, placing the credit card as the guy shrugged.

"Alright, and for how long?" said the man behind the counter after a second of typing something up on a computer.

"For a week," Jay shrugged after a few moments, trying to estimate how much time at most it would take them to restore their normal bodies. They would only be in Mexico until sunset, and after that they would be on Circe's island, Aeaea.

Jay grabbed the room key and approached the others, sitting bored in the lounge chairs.

"Only one?" Neil asked.

"Yeah, that's all we need." Jay reminded him, "We're just leaving our luggage there since we leave before sunset, and when we get back, we can probably rent something better. Anyway, anyone else hungry?"

* * *

After dumping their luggage upstairs on the second floor, the team ate dinner at a stand along the beach. When they were about done, the sky was still bright, but the heroes decided to wait it out until sunset so they could reach the island.

"What time does it start to get dark again? 7:00, right?" Neil asked, continuing when he saw the others nod, "Then, what, we have an hour to kill?"

Odie shrugged, and lay back in the sand, "I guess so… what do you guys want to do? We can't do really do anything much else besides sit around without attracting more attention than we already are…"

"Just chill?" Atlanta suggested, fanning her face with her hands, "I think it's way too hot here…"

"I think half of that 'cos of the fur," Archie said.

"Let's go get a coconut!" Theresa declared suddenly, standing up and brushing some sand off of her sun dress.

"From the palm trees?" Herry asked incredously.

"No, from that vendor over there!" Theresa called out, holding her hand over her eyes to block out that sun, "You guys want to go? I haven't had a fresh coconut since the last time my dad took me."

Odie nodded excitedly, standing to his wobbly feet before toppling over sadly, "Uh, better not, haven't mastered the whole walking-thing yet…"

"I'll go!" Archie called, standing up and pulling Atlanta with him, "And Atlanta will too."

"Jay?" Theresa asked hesitantly, face flushed as she thought about the night before.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Jay grinned behind his mask, standing up and pulling at the hem of his shirt.

A man with dark skin and black hair stood behind his stall, putting on a show for a couple of enthralled tourists watching in awe as he pulled out a huge machete and chopped off the green husk of a coconut. He used the blade to poke a hole in the top too, then popped a straw in and handed it to one of the people in line.

"Here, let's go!" Theresa smiled, walking up into the line.

"How much for seven?" Jay asked the man.

"250 Pesos," the man stated, holding out his hand for the money.

Jay raised his arm to pay, but Atlanta stopped him and whispered in his ear, "You're supposed to haggle, Jay… Coconuts should be about $3 each, so that's about 30 Pesos each!"

"Oh," Jay said, and then turned to the man, "How about 200 Pesos?"

"230!" he haggled.

"Fine," Archie cut it with a shrug.

Jay handed the man 230 Pesos, who then immediately turned around and grabbed seven coconuts, pulled out his machete again, and got to work chopping and hacking before dropping straws into each product.

"Thanks," Theresa smiled, taking two of the coconuts off the table and into her arms

Jay grabbed two, Archie grabbed two, and Atlanta grabbed one before they hurried back to their friends.

"Who's thirsty?" Theresa asked, handing one to Herry as his hand shot up for one.

Odie gratefully took one from Archie and took a large sip, "Ahhh, that's the stuff."

"Neil." Jay rolled his eyes and passed one to his furry companion who was looking at him with large eyes underneath his sunglasses.

Half an hour later, Theresa went back to the stall and got the man to cut them all open so they could eat the jelly inside; after fifteen minutes, they were done and ready for the sun to sink, feet buried in the sand and stomachs content.

"Finally!" Neil cried out as the sky changed to an orange yellow hue, "Let's get this show on the road!"

He stood up and stretched his arms out, only pausing when he saw the others look at him strangely, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Herry stood up beside him and looked down, a good 2 feet taller than the narcissist all of a sudden.

"Whoa, Herry, you grew!" Neil exclaimed.

"No, Neil. You _shrunk_!" Atlanta pointed out, standing up beside Neil.

"Whoa, _what_!?" Neil asked, "That's crazy!"

Theresa sighed, "Guys, let's just get this over with so Neil can stop complaining."

Then, just like her vision, everybody lined up along the beach, concentrating hard on the Latin words Persephone had taught them.

Theresa spread her arms as wide as they would go, "Pario a semita"

Suddenly, all the other people on the beach seemed to fade away as the ocean split in two and their path arose.

"Come, let's go!" Theresa said, motioning for them to follow as she took a hesitant step onto the pathway. In the far distance, she could see the island, a small, brown blip on the horizon.

"It's such a long walk!' Neil complained first, pointing at the horizon, "Look how long this path is! Anyone else seeing this?"

"Neil, shut up and concentrate," Archie snapped at a light jog.

"I can't, I have this horrible back pain!" Neil moaned, "And look! I'm walking with a hunch! And you guys are getting taller… and I can't feel my nose. Why is the ground coming up so fast? Why are my fingers so sharp? WHY AM I NOT WEARING ANY CLOTHES!?"

The last sentence got everybody to freeze and turn around to stare at Neil; or at least, where Neil had been.

He was gone.

"Hello? Still here!" a voice squeaked from below, "Stop being tall!"

They averted their gaze to the ground where, just sitting there, was furry critter poking its head out from Neil's old clothes.

"You're a possum!" Atlanta laughed suddenly, grabbing Neil by his bushy, white tail and hanging him upside down for everybody to see, "You're so small, that's awesome!"

They all burst out laughing and Neil angrily squeaked at them, "Shut up!"

"I don't know how, but I feel like this is some sort of karma," Odie laughed.

Suddenly, the path started to shrink.

"Guys, keep concentrating!" Theresa reminding them, snapping everyone back to attention as she began holding her arms out and whispering the mantra, "Pario a semita, pario a semita..."

The path stopped shrinking.

"Guys, we have to go fast, the path will disappear when the sun goes down, whether or not we've made it!" Theresa warned, picking up the pace and sprinting down the path, "We don't have much longer and it's getting harder to concentrate!"

Jay nodded, going into leader mode, "Theresa's right. Come on, Neil, you can ride on my shoulder."

Neil squeaked indignantly as Jay snatched him from Atlanta's grip and dropped him onto his shoulder before sprinting after Theresa.

Atlanta nodded at the others and sped past Theresa and Jay, using her super speed; she was at the island in a matter of seconds.

She stopped as soon as she set foot on the island and gasped at what she beheld.

Despite the beautiful golden sand along the coast, the forest beyond was not in good shape; the brushes were withering and thirsty, the trunks of the few palm trees were small and hunched over, and no flowers sprouted from the yellow and brown, dried-up grass. She walked up to the treeline and knelt down to run her fingers through the dry dirt, crisp and molded together in clumps and she could smell the salt coming off of it. No life could grow from this.

Further past into the once-green forest, she noticed that the trees had no leaves and a few were broken at the trunks as if there had been a harsh wind that had blown the trembling spines of the trunks over. Something was wrong with this place, the land was clearly suffering and she did not see or hear any wildlife. She silently wondered if Circe was even here or if the place was empty and abandoned.

"What a mess…" Atlanta muttered under her breath, wondering in dismay if it was pollution that had somehow tainted the island.

Atlanta was about to sit down on the sand and wait for the others, when she felt a prickling sensation all over her body like needles, and shivered.

"Ow!" she mumbled, looking down at her legs which were now yellow and covered with black splotches.

She guessed the spots were all over her now and frowned in realization as she realized what she was becoming, "I'm changing into a freaking _Cheetah_!"

She looked back over the horizon just as the others came pounding up; Herry's skin had changed to a dark brown and his stomach looked plump, he ran with a hunch. Archie now had black hair, his mohawk as dark as night and Atlanta was tempted to laugh. He too ran with a hunch, and as he ran up to meet her, she almost freaked out as she watched black fur suddenly sprout all around his body, covering his face and melding with his hair. His hands changed to paws, along with his feet, and his legs and arm muscles seemed to be changing too. A muzzle sprouted from his face.

"Atlanta!" he barked out, suddenly succumbing to his hunch and falling forward onto all fours and crumpling in a ball in pain. She could see bones shifting and rearranging in his back through the fabric of his jacket, and even heard a crack which caused her to wince. After a few seconds, a black, furry, four-legged animal emerged from the clothing, wiggling a paw out of his Archie's old sleeves and padding over to her, "Oh, whoa…"

Archie looked down in surprise at himself; he was a black wolf.

"Weird…" Atlanta offered, scratching him behind the ear.

He growled softly, now fully changed into a wolf, not a trace of his humanity left other than his voice and soul.

"Well this sucks…" Archie sighed, looking behind him as the others approached, the path narrowing before closing off completely as they reached land.

"This island is speeding up the change!" Odie whined sadly, pulling off his jacket to reveal two full fledge black wings, his hands gone, "God, what am I? A Crow? A Raven?"

"Whoa, what's with you?" Theresa questioned Archie, the large wolf glaring at something deeper in the forest.

"Who?" Odie blurted, turning his head an almost 180 degrees to see who Theresa was referring to.

Suddenly, Odie crumpled to the ground, shrinking tinier and tinier as his nose turned a golden hue and hardened into a sharp beak, curving drastically. His eyes widened in shock as he continued to shrink to at a quarter his size until he was completely submerged in his old red jacket.

"No, I'm as small as Neil," Odie cooed as he struggled under the cloth frantically, beak clacking when he managed to hop out.

"I'm an Owl!?" Odie screamed in surprise, his voice rather big for his small body. However, he was silently thankful for not being a chicken, but he could have at least appreciated the size.

"Well, on a happier note… you can fly?" Atlanta offered. She picked up the feathery, black owl, staring the the depths of his wise-looking eyes before perching him on her shoulder.

"Still, look how small I am!" Odie protested, flapping his wings experimentally, seemingly unable to get over the topic.

Herry frowned, "Uh oh… ugh, I don't feel so good! I hope I don't turn into a small rat, I don't think I have it in me."

Short, brown fur protruded from his face suddenly, then all over his body; a muzzle stretched out from his face, his eyes shifted from dark brown to a light chestnut colour and shrunk to round circles. He looked like he was putting on muscly weight, and suddenly, his clothes ripped off of him as he sank to the ground on all fours heavily, his ears flipped up much like Archie's now.

"I'm a… Grizzly Bear?" Herry asked quietly, confused.

"Appears so," Odie chimed grumpily, trying to scratch his head with his feathery wing.

"Looks like you're the only guy left!" Theresa shook her head in disbelief at Jay.

"I feel fine," he said doubtfully, as he felt something shift underneath his skin. He willed it to stop with a hard grimace.

"It's getting dark, you guys… do you think we should call it a night and find Circe's Water Mansion in the morning?" Theresa asked them all, swishing her tail nervously.

She got many squeaks, roars, and nods of reply.

"So where are we staying? Should we camp out on the beach? The forest looks a bit dreary," Atlanta said.

"And not to mention creepy," Neil added, his red eyes reflecting the moonlight.

"Well, Neil, you and I are nocturnal," Odie said, "Technically, you and I could go exploring some more… but maybe we better stay behind with the rest of the group."

"No, Odie, that's a really good idea," Jay grinned, "Check out what's ahead so we know what to expect tomorrow, just for about thirty minutes or so and return. The rest of us with opposable thumbs will try and start a fire before we head off to sleep."

Neil looked apprehensively at the forest ahead of him, but with the urging calls and hoots of Odie, padded in until the small possum was no longer in sight. The remaining team of animals and humans all settled down comfortably on the soft sand.

The air was warm and humid, but still slightly chilly when the wind blew past.

"I'm cold," Atlanta declared after a few minutes, slightly wishing she had fully transformed so she had more fur.

"Well, that sucks," Herry murmured sleepily, "I'm _soo_ warm, think I might just hibernate for a bit."

"I don't think that's how it works, Herry," Atlanta smiled before curling up next to him, "But alright, you have deemed yourself worthy of being my blanket for tonight."

Behind the two, Archie huffed, silently wondering why _he_ had to be the wolf and why Herry got to be the big 'ol cozy Grizzly Bear.

In the end, everyone curled up with Herry for more warmth.

* * *

**A/N: SO, THAT WAS A REALLY LONG GAP IN UPDATING SO I HOPE YOU GUYS DON'T HATE ME. Let me know what you think, I'll try to be a bit speedier on the next update since this chapter wasn't too long. So we still gotta figure out what Jay and Theresa are, but that'll be in the next installment. **

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you think - it keeps me writing and updating! I honestly had forgotten for a while since I JUST got done with exams and am now finally graduated and such, until I got a review reminding me! See you suckas next time (there will be more content, promise)**


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